An adjunct community college professor had a bit of a problem when it came time to teach evolution, according to certain sources:<\/p>\n
\nStudent Bryan Jaden Walker<\/a> wrote on his blog, … that the professor “glossed over the scientific explanation very quickly (less than 20 seconds), then explained Creationism for about five minutes (5,000-year-old Earth, no evolution, etc).”<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
“Evolution was not taught at all in his class,” Weis said. “When he hit that unit, instead of discussing it himself he had a single slide that had both creationism and evolution. When I spoke up and asked him about it, he claimed there was no evidence for either, but they are just different world views.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nWalker complained to the Oklahoma City Community college director of science, Sonya Williams, and was put off by her (shall we presume that Sonya Williams is a creationist?).<\/p>\nApparently, there was an internal investigation with no real outcome.<\/p>\n
“We checked it out and admonished the professor to please follow curriculum protocols,” [OCCC spokesperson] Jordan said. “We give latitude. You’re allowed to teach however you want, but you do have to teach what’s on the syllabus, and that seems like what happened.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The prof claims that Walker’s claims are inaccurate, even though it appears that other students have complained previously. In any event, Talkington essentially confesses to being a creationist who is teaching creationism:<\/p>\n
“I simply acknowledged that there are other schools of thought. I did not teach creationism. I did not promote one view over another. I did not mention God or Christianity. I stayed within the bounds of what the college allows.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Ooops. “I did not promote one view over the other”????? He did not promote Science over Creationism in a science class? And this was OK with Sonya Williams and the rest of them?<\/p>\n
Sorry, but no.<\/p>\n
Talkington claims that he is being repressed<\/a>.<\/p>\n
This particular college have earned an “F” rating in the past from the Fordham Foundation<\/a> and the National Center for Science Education<\/a> for their lousy treatment of science.<\/del><\/p>\nNOTE: Apparently the original newspaper article on which this blog post was based (silly me, relying on a news paper for information) was very flawed. vhutchison of Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education<\/a> has made a comment below giving some clarification.<\/p>\n
But maybe the slack jawed yahoos who live in Oklahoma<\/a> like this. There is some evidence:<\/p>\n
Talkington, who is not teaching anywhere right now and doesn’t know if he will return to the classroom, said he thinks the case was blown out of proportion.<\/p>\n
He said many students loved his class, pointing to students who rated him positively on websites such as RateMyProfessors.com.<\/p>\n
Several on the site commented that Talkington was the best professor they’d had.<\/p>\n
Talkington wouldn’t comment on his views.<\/p>\n
“People are looking to debate this issue anyway,” he said. “I want to stay out of that debate.”<\/p>\n
He enjoyed his tenure at OCCC, he said.<\/p>\n
“I enjoyed what I did and enjoyed my interaction with the students. I’m disappointed that one student took it to that level of animosity.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Source<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An adjunct community college professor had a bit of a problem when it came time to teach evolution, according to certain sources: Student Bryan Jaden Walker wrote on his blog, … that the professor “glossed over the scientific explanation very quickly (less than 20 seconds), then explained Creationism for about five minutes (5,000-year-old Earth, no … Continue reading Creationist College Prof Will Not Return to Classroom<\/span>